Whom the Gods Love Die Many Times
by Danny Phantom SG-1
Summary: My first attempt at a fanfiction. Written an EXTREMELY long time ago. Daniel is tortured by Anubis because he feels like torturing Daniel. You have been warned...
1. Chapter 1

Season: Takes place in S. 7 after Chimera, but before Heroes

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM, SciFi and all the other wonderful people who own it.

Author's Note: By the way, I didn't really like Sam Carter (and still don't like her very much--don't ask why) and this was my first story from a loooooong time ago, so…I'm not exceedingly nice to her in this one, though I suppose it's not terrible. I get nicer as it goes on. The writing also improves a little as you go because it only took my…oh, say, ONE AND A HALF YEARS to write, and my writing style changed over the course of it. Remember, this was my FIRST EVER fic from a REALLY, REALLY long time ago. Even I don't like it, but a few of my friends do and they told me to post it. So sorry ahead of time for, well…anything!

**Whom the Gods Love Die Many Times**

**Or, in other words, the Really Corny, Cheesy, Plotless Story about Daniel**

"Well, this is just great!" Jack O'Neill said

"I'm sorry, sir. I had no idea that there were Goa'uld here. Let alone Anubis. If I had, I never would have requested to General Hammond that we come here," Samantha Carter said defensively.

"Well, Carter, you did. And now, we're stuck here in this stupid cell, and we have no idea where Daniel and Teal'c are," Jack looked at his surroundings. He and Major Carter were trapped in a Goa'uld prison cell. They had been captured by the evil Goa'uld Anubis. They, and the two other members of their team, had been brought before the false god. He had obviously knocked them out. The next thing the colonel remembered was waking up in this cell with Carter. He had no idea where the other half of his team was.

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel Jackson awoke in a dark room. He was lying on a hard rock floor. He tried to get up. Bad idea, he thought, as his arm immediately sent a searing pain throughout his body. He lay there on the ground, trying to remember what happened. He and his team had been captured. Where were they? Then, almost as if to answer his question, he heard someone stirring next to him. He looked over and saw the oldest member of their team, Teal'c. He was 104 years-old, but looked more like 36. He was Jaffa and was able to live to a very old age. He noticed that Teal'c was still out cold from whatever Anubis had done to them.

"Teal'c," he said. He was surprised at how weak he sounded, but apparently it was enough to wake his friend.

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c answered. He sounded even worse than Daniel, which was odd because, usually, Teal'c was a strong warrior. However, he had become more susceptible to injury and disease since he began using Tratonan rather than having his immature Goa'uld symbiote as all Jaffa do.

"Teal'c, do you know what happened?" Daniel asked.

"Indeed I do not," he said.

"Well, are you hurt?" Daniel asked, but immediately afterward thought to himself 'Duh! He sounds worse than I do, and if he was not hurt, he usually wasn't lying around on cold, hard dungeon floors. Dumb question.'

"I believe that I have received a staff weapon blast on my right shoulder, Daniel Jackson. Are you injured as well?" He inquired.

Daniel tried to figure out what to say as an answer. It was obvious that he was hurt, but he didn't know where or how he got it. He decided to grab his bad arm with the other one and immediately found the source. "Yeah, I think I've been hit, too."

"Do you know the location of O'Neill and Major Carter?"

"No, I was just about to ask you that."

"Then my answer would be no, also, Daniel Jackson."

"Yes, thank you, Teal'c for clarifying."

"You are welcome Daniel Jackson."

"I was being sarcastic, Teal'c. You know like Jack...never mind. We should try to find a way out of this."

Daniel once again attempted to rise, but was this time slowed down by his left leg. 'Oh, great, more injuries.' He lay back down and looked over at Teal'c "Can you get up?"

"I believe that I can, Daniel Jackson." He almost instantaneously rose to a sitting position. Then, with some effort, managed to lift himself with his left, uninjured arm. In a few moments the Jaffa was towering over Daniel in a standing position. " Do you require my assistance, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel looked up at him in awe. How had this guy, who was obviously injured more than Daniel two minutes ago, suddenly recovered from his injury? Well, thought Daniel, this is just great.

**NEXT SCENE**

"Carter, are you going to help me, or not?" Colonel O'Neill barked at his second-in-command. He was searching the walls around them for some way out of the cell.

"It's no use, sir. The Goa'uld usually don't make it anywhere near possible to escape from their prisons. We're better off if we just wait here for someone to come check up on us," If anyone does check up on us, she thought.

"Well at least I'm trying." Jack yelled back in frustration. She was probably right, for once.

Suddenly, they heard something coming from the front of the cell. They both turned to see Anubis come into the prison.

"Well, I see you two have awoken," Anubis said in the unnatural Goa'uld voice. "I'll bet you are pondering where the other two are."

Jack and Sam stared at him for a while. "What did you do to them?" Jack said unkindly.

"Why, I have done nothing to them." He said simply.

"Don't give me that. Where are they?"

"They, like you, are in a prison cell."

"Okay. Why aren't they with us?"

"Because, I have different plans for the Shol'va and the once-ascended being Daniel Jackson than I do for you." He said with an evil tone of voice.

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel had finally been able to rise to his feet with some help from Teal'c. He and the Jaffa were searching for any possible escape route. So far, they had been unsuccessful. Daniel figured the only reason Teal'c had sounded worse than him earlier was because, he was just tired from being awoken by Daniel. Daniel had discovered that he had been shot with a staff weapon in his arm and his leg. Teal'c was helping Daniel move around the cell to stretch.

"Well, Teal'c, I don't think we're going to have much luck in escaping," Daniel said.

"I believe you are correct, Daniel Jackson," he responded.

Then, they both turned around to see Anubis stride into their cell. "Hello, Daniel Jackson and Shol'va. I am quite pleased to see that you have risen."

Daniel and Teal'c glared at him. Finally, Teal'c managed to say, "What have you done with our comrades?"

"They are in a prison not far from here. I have already explained to them what will be done to you. If you would like to see them again, come this way," he said and exited the cell to the right.

Daniel and Teal'c stared at him in angry confusion until he rounded the corner. Then, they looked at each other, recognizing that this was a very subtle hint to follow him. Seeing no other alternative, Teal'c propped Daniel up on his left arm, and the two followed Anubis down the dark passageway.

Finally, They stopped in front of a cell wall. Anubis seemed to just move his hand across the doorway, and it swung open. Inside were Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter, looking back at them with wide, fearful eyes.

"Jack, Sam," Daniel managed to whisper. The long walk down the halls had not helped his injuries one bit.

"Daniel," they said in unison. They sounded somewhat scared, but also relieved.

"O'Neill, Major Carter, are you injured, also?"

"No," they replied simply. They seemed even more fearful at this question.

"What's the matter, guys? What's going on?"

The other two looked at each other with wide eyes. Finally, Anubis said, "Go ahead. In fact, I would rather have you tell them than I."

Finally, after a few painful glances at one another, Jack started explaining what was going to happen. "Well, ole Anubis over here says that he's going to question Carter and me about the usual Earth, Tau'ri info. You know the cliche, What are the Earth coordinates, how do you get through the iris, that kind of stuff. But the catch is that every time we refuse to answer, Anubis will torture one of you. He chose to torture you two because, well, Teal'c deserted the Goa'uld and "needs to be punished" and Daniel, you ascended, where as Anubis only managed to ascend for a little while before being kinda' half-way outcast by the Ancients," after saying this he immediately turned toward Anubis and stuck his tongue out in a "Ha, ha, my friend was cool enough to ascend and you weren't", fashion. "He thinks that seeing you guys in that much pain will make us talk." He never said that it was true or not, but the other two could tell by the look on his face that it was definitely going to complicate matters.

"Oh, well, that's wonderful," Daniel said sarcastically.

"Daniel Jackson, I do not see how you and I being tortured to extract information from O'Neill and Major Carter is wonderful," Teal'c said.  
Daniel opened his mouth to explain, but gave it up and just rolled his eyes. "Forget it Teal'c."

Then, Anubis said, "Why don't we begin now?" Then with an evil smirk (or at least he would have if he had a mouth.) he told one of his Jaffa to tie up Daniel and Teal'c. The two struggled, of course, but in their weakened states and being outnumbered, they finally gave in to the chains on the wall opposite Jack and Sam.

As soon as Anubis was satisfied that his torture victims were securely in place, he started his questioning.

"Tell me, what are the codes that you put in this 'GDO' to open your Tau'ri 'iris'?"

Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter glanced nervously at each other, trying to think of what to do. Finally, Carter said, "We're never going to tell you!"

At this remark, Anubis signaled to one of his guards. The Jaffa turned around to Daniel and Teal'c. Then he picked up his Zat Gun and fired it at Teal'c, most likely because Daniel was already injured in two places, whereas Teal'c was only injured in one. The blue, electrical charges swirled around him painfully, until he fell limp on the chains.

"I would not joke with you. I told you that I would torture them if you did not tell me the information I wanted. Now tell me the codes."

Carter and O'Neill stared at Teal'c for a while, trying to avoid answering Anubis' question long enough for the first blast to wear off, so that the next time they shot him, it wouldn't kill him. Obviously, Anubis sensed this and yelled, "Tell me now, or I will shoot him again."

O'Neill finally said, "Okay. You know what? I don't think I'm in the mood to give away our secret codes to some mean, evil bad guy. Why don't you come back later and try again?"

"Your proposal amuses me. Perhaps I shall be gracious enough to give you and your team some time alone to say good-bye to one another. It will be quite amusing to observe how the Tau'ri handle the fact that they are going to die no matter what," he said, turning his head to Daniel's position in particular. Daniel glowered back at him. "I will go, but know this. There is no escape and I will return." With that, he turned abruptly and strode out of the cell, leaving only two Jaffa to guard the entrance of the cell.

Daniel glowered at Anubis until he was out of sight. Then he sat on the dungeon floor to stop his left leg from throbbing uncontrollably. He looked over at Teal'c, who had just recently awoken from the Zat Gun.

As soon as he noticed Teal'c was up, O'Neill said, "We're really sorry, Teal'c. I wish I could have done something to stop that stupid Anubis." He looked apologetically at his friend.

"You had no choice, O'Neill. If I was faced with that situation, I would have made the same decision."

"Well, gee, thanks, Teal'c. Now I know who NOT to get captured and tortured with."

"As do I O'Neill."

Even though Daniel thought Jack and Teal'c's little exchanges were quite amusing, they weren't exactly the last things he wanted to hear while he was alive. "Guys quit it. We should be figuring out what to do, not cracking jokes at one another. Okay, so how do we solve this problem?" he asked and looked around. Everyone else looked nervously at each other. They honestly had no idea what to do.

"Um, to be honest with you, Daniel, I have no idea," Carter said stupidly.

"Oh, shut up, Carter, we'll think of something," the rarely optimistic Colonel O'Neill said. But this was much easier said than done. He knew it was up to him to find a way to get his two friends out of this predicament because, Carter certainly was not going to be much help with her pessimistic outlook.

"Well, we could try to escape from here, find our stuff, and blow the compound," he said.

Daniel managed a weak chuckle, "Yes, very realistic plan, Jack."

"Well, it's worked before. Remember that one time on Apophis' ship? We all went and helped blow it up thanks to your little trip to another dimension."

"Yeah, but if you recall, I got shot, and we all almost blew up with the ship. Besides, we weren't captured then, either."

"A lot you know. For your information, Teal'c and I were both captured."

"But, the other half of the team was able to save you. I don't see that happening in this situation, considering we're all captured."

"Mr. Negative." Colonel O'Neill said, bringing back one of Daniel's many nicknames.

"Oh, don't start with that again."

SG-1 continued on like that for a while. Reminiscing old journeys while trying to cook up a decent escape plan. After several minutes, they all agreed that their situation was just about as hopeless as they come, and gave up to just remembering old times, with just a little glimmer of hope that Hammond may yet send a rescue team for them. Although, considering where they were, that team would likely just get captured as well.

**NEXT SCENE**

One hour later, Anubis came promptly waltzing into the cell. "I have given you enough time with one another. I expect that due to my kindness in letting you be alone for a while, you will cooperate better then you did last time."

"Oh, please. You gave us an hour, and we weren't really alone. We had a guard watching outside the door, and I'll bet you were monitoring us the whole time. We aren't going to give you any information," Colonel O'Neill said stubbornly.

"That is too bad for your friends, Colonel O'Neill. For they will be the ones to pay for your foolishness."

Daniel, who was getting worse from his wounds, looked over hesitantly at Teal'c. Teal'c looked his way, too, but did nothing more but cock his head and raise his eyebrow. It was obvious to Daniel that Teal'c was not afraid. He, however, was not so keen to die...again. But, he figured that if he was to die, it might as well be bravely, staring down at the evil Goa'uld Anubis.

Once again, he started his questioning. "Tell me the coordinates of Earth."

Both O'Neill and Carter (surprisingly) did not say a word. So, Anubis gave the signal. A Jaffa went up to Daniel and held a staff weapon to his chest. "Tell me now, or he dies!"

Jack and Sam stared with concern over at Daniel, who was busy glaring at Anubis. Still, they refused to talk.

Fed up with the humans, Anubis signaled again. Daniel stared at the Jaffa in terror as the staff weapon shot out a blast of energy. Daniel's body hung limp on the chains. He was dead.

"Daniel!" Jack cried. But it was too late. He knew it was. He turned with fury in his watering eyes to Anubis. "You stupid & idiot. Why did you do that?"

"I told you that they would pay for your stubbornness." Then, he looked at Daniel. He pointed to a Jaffa and said something in Goa'uld. "I will be back to question you further later." The Jaffa took Daniel's body off of the wall and carried their lifeless friend through the halls behind Anubis. The dungeon doors shut.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

**Oh, how the plotlessness thickens**

Teal'c, with an unusual mixed expression of sadness and rage on his normally passive face, looked over at Jack and Sam. "Daniel Jackson will be back."

"How?!?" Colonel O'Neill yelled, "He's dead!"

"Indeed. But the Goa'uld have sarcophagi. They will use it to bring Daniel Jackson back to life."

O'Neill looked relieved for a moment, then concerned again. "How do you know for sure?"

"That is what Anubis told his Jaffa to do."

Jack lightened up a little at this, but immediately went back to being glum. "Yeah, they'll just bring him back for more torture so they can kill him again."

The three remaining members of SG-1 sat on the floor of the prison. They began to talk to one another about Daniel. They shared their favorite Daniel stories, like the 'Spacemonkey" incident. They talked and came to realize how much Daniel had changed in the past 7 years. When he and Colonel O'Neill went on the first mission to Abydos, he had been a wide-eyed scientist with no skill at all in military training. He did surprisingly well when it came to using guns, but was no where near the expertise of the Air Force. When they got him from Abydos for a second time, he was still the puny archaeologist who had no idea what to do when it came to fighting. You did have to give him credit, though, when he had to fight, he was one of the bravest guys in the field. Unfortunately, being brave doesn't always work when you don't know how to shoot a gun properly. Later, about the time the team finally managed to defeat Apophis, Daniel became much more skilled and brave. He was better than half of the people the colonel had trained with. He was a very fast learner. But one thing Daniel never had to learn was how to be kind and caring for everyone, even the bad guys occasionally. He was always able to turn around and see the problem from other people's perspective. Except for the Goa'uld, of course. They were the ones responsible for his wife's death, and he hated them for it.

Unfortunately for Daniel, being kind and brave was his downfall on Kelowna. He was nice enough to risk his own life to save millions of people he didn't even know. The stupid, ungrateful Kelownans, however, saw his act in destroying a nuclear bomb that was going to blow up their whole planet as sabotage. For three days, Daniel lay in pain in the infirmary from radiation. Only one Kelownan had the sense to come forward and say that Daniel was a hero for doing what he did. They were all afraid that Daniel was going to die that day, but he decided to ascend to a higher plane of existence to avoid dying permanently. He was ascended for about a year before the Ancients kicked him out for breaking the rules and trying to help his friends and Abydos. Now, he was smart and strong. He was no longer the puny, innocent archaeologist that first went through the Stargate. He was now an intelligent warrior who could speak well over 25 languages and had the courage, and the skill, to beat the Goa'uld.

The members of the team sat in silence for a while, each thinking of their own personal experiences that Daniel was responsible for helping them with. Then, the silence was broken by the opening of the cell door. In came Anubis, his Jaffa, and Daniel, all alive.

"Daniel!" Colonel O'Neill said with joy.

Daniel looked over at him with a weak smile, showing that he understood why he and Carter did what they did. But his smile was soon swept away in an expression of pain as he held his side. When O'Neill looked close enough, he could see that Daniel had been stabbed with something.

"Hey," he barked at Anubis, "What did you do to him?"

"You must tell me the coordinates of Earth, or the same will happen to your Jaffa friend. It is obvious that you do not care about this one. You let me kill him. All you need to do is give me the coordinates of Earth."

At the mentioning of the fact that he was dead, Daniel shuddered a bit, trying to push away the unpleasant thought. Then, it was he rather than Carter and O'Neill who answered the evil Goa'uld's question. "No matter what you do to us, they aren't going to tell you anything." He said and looked up nervously at the Goa'uld as if expecting him to hurt or kill him once more.

Anubis looked down at Daniel who moved around on his chains uneasily. He was frightened, yes, but he knew that the safety of their entire world lay in the hands of SG-1. He was prepared to take a chance in order to save the billions of lives on their planet.

Finally, Anubis spoke up, "I believe that they will tell me eventually." He said slyly.

"Well..." Daniel started. He knew what he wanted to say, but it was always a lot harder to risk your life than he made it look. "If you're going to torture anyone, torture me. Don't hurt Teal'c, please." He said desperately.

Anubis appeared surprised at Daniel's sacrifice. Probably because no Goa'uld would ever risk his life for another. His expression soon changed to one of delight as he looked at the young man. "Then you will go through some of the worst pain and torture one could ever endure." he said. "I not only want the coordinates of Earth, but I find it amusing to watch my victims go through much torture. You will suffer, and just when you think it is all over for you, and you will finally die and be rid of your pain and suffering, I will bring you back in the sarcophagus. Not only because you are of the horrid Tau'ri, but because you ascended, as I attempted to do, but you succeeded because the Ancients thought you worthy enough. You have no idea how painful my life is right at this moment because of my failure to ascend. I want you to feel worse than even that pain," he said with glee.

Daniel felt sick. He really didn't want to do this, but it was either him, or Teal'c. He had no other choice.

Then, O'Neill, who had been staring dumbfounded at Daniel and Anubis, snapped out of it and said, "Daniel, are you CRAZY?!?"

Daniel looked over at him with sad blue eyes and said, "Jack, I'm sorry, but there's no other option."

Jack kept staring at him. He knew this was true, for Daniel at least. Daniel couldn't handle watching others be tortured, especially when they were his friends. And although he was sure Daniel would never crack under pressure and give up to Anubis, Jack also knew that Daniel would rather have it be him, rather than Teal'c, Jack...or even Sam, be the one to suffer. He was just too kind.

Teal'c was also not happy with this proposal. At least, as far as Jack could tell. Teal'c still hadn't mastered the fact that he was able to express his emotions more clearly now that he was out of league with the Goa'uld, but he had gotten better and Jack was pretty sure he saw some anger and sadness in his expression...maybe.

Carter, however, was still daydreaming and apparently hadn't really noticed that Daniel was back in the room after he died. The ever so brilliant astrophysicist was not so good at handling capture.

After a long moment of awkward silence, Anubis signaled to a Jaffa. The Jaffa was obviously his first prime, due to the golden emblem on his forehead. He unlocked Teal'c from the chains on the wall. They were apparently on very tight because his wrists were bleeding where the chains used to be. Teal'c put up a good fight, for he did not want to be any further away from his friend than he already was on the one wall. He did not want to be next to O'Neill on the opposite wall this time because Daniel Jackson needed his help and protection. But in his injured state, he managed to be restrained once again. He still struggled trying to break free and get to Daniel Jackson, the man had just given up his own life in exchange for Teal'c's. But it was hopeless.

Anubis noticed that all of the members of the team were struggling against their chains to protect their friend. This angered him and he commanded, "Stop! You will do nothing more than injure yourselves further if you attempt escape. And although that would please me rather greatly, what do you think your poor little friend would think if he just risked his life for the likes of idiots like yourselves?" he said mockingly. He looked over at Daniel and said to him, "Look at them. These are the ones you gave up your freedom for. The ones who let me kill you a little while ago. The ones whom, as I have heard, have left you to die many times. Why do you do so?" He asked, more out of willingness to tease than desire to know.

Daniel looked at Anubis. The fury and rage inside of him could be seen through his deep blue eyes. Finally, he said with hatred in his voice, "Because, they have also saved my life more times than I can count. Without them, I wouldn't be here today to tell you that I think your a..." The next few things Daniel said are not appropriate to print on paper.

Sam, Teal'c, and even Jack, were surprised at Daniel's language. Jack smiled. He had taught him well.

Although Daniel's teammates were surprised, it took Anubis a while to digest the fact that he had just allowed this worthless human to make fun of him. Daniel smiled triumphantly. He had SOOO won that battle.

But Anubis' shock did not last long, and he immediately began Daniel's endless torture with a staff weapon. He carefully aimed at Daniel's stomach, but as soon as Daniel realized this, he moved around so that the blast hit his right leg instead. He cried out in pain as his legs gave way beneath him. He was about to fall forward, but the chains binding his hands were up high on the wall. They left him hanging painfully by his wrists as he hung in midair, not able to fall any closer to the ground. His breathing started to slow down after the shocking ordeal. His breath was coming out in short, raspy gasps, but it was better than not breathing at all. He managed to pull his head up and glare harshly at Anubis, who was obviously enjoying himself at the moment.

"You impress me, Doctor Jackson. I did not expect for you to be so clever to move out of the way," he said. He was so busy gloating to Daniel that he didn't notice Teal'c's leg was about to kick him very hard in the back until it was too late. He fell forward, almost on top of Daniel and crashed to the ground. Daniel looked up at Teal'c and smiled. Anubis was going to have a harder time torturing him than he thought.

Anubis' first prime, Herak was his name, rushed over to his master to help him rise. Anubis pushed him away, signaling that a god such as himself did not need help to get to his feet. He glared viciously at Teal'c and prepared to Zat him again, but then his expression became much more calm as he turned away from Teal'c to Daniel. He smiled evilly and Daniel gulped. He was glad Teal'c had gotten revenge for him, but now Daniel was going to pay for Teal'c's act. Daniel managed to stand up, leaning mostly, but not entirely, on his left leg. He would show Anubis that if he wanted to kill him, Daniel wasn't about to give up anytime soon. Anubis seemed surprised that Daniel was even able to sustain any weight on his feet. He decided to use this point to weaken Danny further.

"Ah, you impress me, Doctor Jackson, once again. I did not think you would be able to stand after the shot to your leg."

"Yeah, well, it just shows how little you know about me," Daniel replied coldly.

"If one blast is not enough to stop you, let's see what two do."

He once again aimed the weapon at Daniel, only this time at his left knee. Daniel's face went white as he awaited another painful blast to collide with his leg. He heard a loud "No!" coming from one of his teammates, but his brain didn't have enough time to register which one it was before another burning blast emerged from the staff weapon to hit him squarely in the knee. He yelped at the harsh impact, but somehow managed to keep himself standing. 'Oh, wonderful,' he thought 'I can keep standing after two staff weapon blasts hit me on both legs, but I can't manage to keep myself alive after three the first time. I really need to get my priorities in order.'

The staff weapon wounds were not a very comfortable thing to put all his weight on, but somehow Daniel had managed. This took a while for Anubis to take in. In the meantime, his team smiled proudly at him, acknowledging his strength and courage. He weakly smiled back at them. By this time, he had almost forgotten about the place he had been stabbed on his side. But now, his whole body was screaming at him to sit down and was making him remember all of his injuries to coax him into it. But Daniel refused to sit down and look like a coward in front of any Goa'uld.

After Anubis had finally assessed the situation, he looked at Daniel in horrific displeasure. "You, Doctor Jackson, are stronger than you appear. But make no mistake, I will come back to make you live in even more excruciating pain." And with one final look that showed his superiority and control, he walked out of the cell once more.

Daniel saw him turn the corner and immediately forced himself to try and sit down. Unfortunately, the chains on his wrist were too high up to get his body all the way down on the floor. He decided to settle with the next-best thing and leaned against the wall behind him.

"Daniel Jackson..." Teal'c started.

Daniel cut him off in mid-sentence, "Teal'c, it's not your fault, so don't try and apologize. I couldn't handle it if it had been you instead of me getting tortured..." His last sentence was stopped by a pain in his left side where he had been stabbed. It was a pretty deep cut and it hurt like h well, you get the idea.

O'Neill noticed this and asked softly, "Daniel, are you going to be okay?"

Daniel looked up at him, his pain-filled blue eyes glossed over as he started to tear up. He couldn't do this. How would he ever be able to survive any of this torture? It would be bad for his friends, too. They had seen him die more times than they needed to. And it seemed every time, it just got more painful to watch. But Daniel would try to be strong for his friends if nothing else.

"I'm...fine...Jack," He said between gasps for breath.

The colonel obviously thought otherwise as his expression turned to one of deep concern for his friend.

Daniel attempted a smile to reassure him, but it didn't last long, as he fell into unconsciousness.

For a moment the colonel became very worried, fearing the worst. But then he heard Daniel's ragged breathing and started to settle down.

"Teal'c, we have got to find a way out of here. For Daniel."

"Indeed, O'Neill. But what would the way out be?"

Jack thought for a moment, then said, "When Anubis brought you and Daniel in here for the first time, how did he open the cell?"

"He appeared to merely move his hand over the entrance and it opened."

"So...maybe some kind of code?"

"It is possible. He might also have a secret word he states that only he knows that could open the door."

"Like a password?"

"Indeed, O'Neill."

Jack thought. What would Anubis' "password" be? Probably something in Goa'uld. But the only two on the team who knew Goa'uld were Teal'c and Daniel. If this was the case, then they would only need Teal'c to help translate the language. However, Jack also knew, thanks to Daniel, that Anubis could probably speak ancient Egyptian since he was one of the Egyptian gods. If that was the case, they would need Daniel to translate the word, and he certainly wasn't in any shape to be devising a plan to get the rest of his team out, as it was he who needed their help.

"O'Neill, I do not believe that the password would work from the inside of the cell. It would be very uncharacteristic of the Goa'uld," said Teal'c.

This was followed by an awkward silence, in which all that could be heard was Daniel's breathing and Carter's quiet humming.

'Wonderful' thought O'Neill 'not one plan so far to escape this place would have any possibility of working. The only person who hasn't given an idea yet is Daniel. His plans are usually the ones we go with. But I don't think he's really in any position to be giving us a daring plan to escape.'

Suddenly, there was a low groan from Daniel's position as he struggled out of his unconscious state. He lifted his head to look right at the colonel.

"Jack?" He said softly.

"Hey, Spacemonkey! How you doing?" Jack said trying to maintain the same tone of voice as Daniel.

"Anubis back yet?" He asked.

"No, not yet, Danny-Boy."

"Good. Sam and Teal'c okay?

"Yeah Daniel they're fine." Jack said. 'Gosh Daniel, your in great pain, yet you ask if the people not being tortured are okay. Do you ever stop being nice?'

"That's good, too, Jack."

Jack nodded his head. He didn't know what else to say.

"Figure out a plan yet?"

Jack thought, 'Oh, yeah. That thing. Well Daniel, it's probably going to be up to you to get us all out of here before you die and we all are tortured for eternity by watching you get killed.'

"No," Jack said, "not quite yet."

"'Okay"

All of a sudden, the door once again swung open. Jack cursed under his breath. He sure hoped they weren't coming back for another round of torture so soon. Herak walked into the cell and placed in front of the three members of SG-1 on the one wall what appeared to be a bucket of water and 3 plates of...food. Nasty food that the colonel was afraid to even touch. There was, of course, already somewhat of a toilet in one corner. All the men had promised Carter not to look while she...went.

What Herak did next surprised the colonel very much. He unhooked the three members' hands from the chains. He turned and told them, "You must have your hands free to eat and drink. My lord said it would be best if I just left you unhooked for the rest of your stay here. I must only chain you up when the torture is in session." He said with glee.

"What about him?" Jack said acknowledging Daniel's position with a tilt of his head.

"My lord says not to allow the victim to consume nourishment, as it will make him weaker and more vulnerable to even small injuries." He said with sickening joy.

Jack was disgusted. But he figured he would wait for

Herarak or whatever his name was, to leave and he would go over and give some of his water and food to Daniel.

"Oh, and if you are thinking of giving away your supplies to him, think again," He said. He smiled as he walked over to Daniel. He reached his hand out to him, but it was stopped short by an energy field that was only around Daniel. Nothing could go in to or out from Daniel except noise.

Daniel, who had been conscious the whole time the conversation had been going on, was surprised to see that he was trapped in his own energy field. It must have come up when he was unconscious.

"Only my master has the key to disposing of the energy field around the victim. It can only be opened for torture sessions or for small amounts of nourishment every three days...if he survives that long." Herak got in one triumphant smirk just before leaving the cell.

Jack stared dumbfounded. He was so hungry, but he refused to eat or drink anything in front of Daniel when he couldn't. Teal'c and even Carter made the same decision in their minds too.

However, Daniel spoke up in his quiet voice. "C'mon guys. You've got to eat something or you'll die, too." He took a gasp for breath and went on, "I don't want to be responsible for you guys dying."

The rest of the team looked worriedly at Daniel, but he just gave a small smile and said, "I wouldn't want to eat that nasty looking stuff anyway," he said. Although his empty stomach and dry throat were telling him otherwise.

The rest of the team smiled. Even in the worst of situations, Daniel could give his best sense of humor. Reluctantly, the team settled down to eat without Daniel. Jack couldn't help but feel a little awkward having Daniel stare at them while they ate, so he said, "Daniel could you, like, uh, go to sleep or something while we, uh, eat?"

"I'm way ahead of you Jack," Daniel said as he slowly dozed off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yes, believe it or not, there is more of the plotless story…much more**

Later that evening, the team was sitting around talking or, in Carter's case, humming. Jack and Teal'c had finally told Daniel about that it would probably be up to him to help them escape. Daniel had, so far, agreed to help as much as possible, but in the middle of their conversation, Anubis walked into the prison.

"Ah, Doctor Jackson. I see you are well enough to discuss things with your friends. That means you won't be upset if I have a little more...fun with you," he said with vengeful pleasure.

Daniel looked up. True, his wounds had begun to heal after a little rest, but he was not, and never would be, ready for "more fun".

"Well, shall we begin? You, Colonel O'Neill, can tell me the address of the Asgard home world, yes? Tell me," he said as he held up a sword to Daniel.

Daniel looked at the sword in fear. Then, he glanced up at Jack. He knew that if he looked frightened, Jack would feel bad for him and possibly give up information to spare Daniel some torture. Daniel quickly tried to hide the expression of fear on his face as his energy shield went down around him. Now, he was vulnerable to outside interference.

Jack looked nervously at his buddy. Daniel sure didn't look scared, but Jack could tell that deep down, Daniel just wanted it all to be over with. Finally, with one last confirming nod from Daniel, Jack said, "I won't."

"Very well. It is _your _choice."

Anubis took the sword and jabbed it into Daniel's right arm. The archaeologist yelled out in pain as his body's weight was put directly on to only his left arm. He could feel the blood trickling down as Anubis removed his torture device from his victim. Sam looked away in distress as she could not watch her teammate in that much pain. Teal'c looked bravely right at Daniel, though his expressionless face was, perhaps, not so expressionless anymore. Jack felt the worst, though. His face was filled with guilt over what had been done to his friend. Anubis, however was filled with glee over what had happened.

"Now, once again, tell me the address!"

Jack looked at Daniel again. Daniel mouthed the word "no" and Jack followed suit. "No," he said quietly.

Without further hesitation, Anubis took a smaller knife and stabbed Daniel in his right side. Daniel let out a desperate cry. Even the colonel had to turn away from the sickening sight of his helpless friend in so much pain.

Anubis said, "You fools. You would not risk the possible chance that my troops could attack the Asgard in order to save your friend. What have the Asgard done that makes you so willing to protect them at any cost? Do they share all of their technology? It seems to me that they do not need your protection as they are supposedly even more advanced than the Goa'uld. Is not the life of your friend more important than a race of aliens who do not need your saving?"

The room was silent and Anubis' question was left unanswered and he stormed out of the cell, not even bothering to turn Daniel's shield back on, as they were not eating, so he did not need it yet.

The air was filled with an awkward silence in which all that could be heard was Daniel's abnormally slow, painful gasps for air. In the midst of his pain, he gathered all of his strength and lifted his head. Sad blue eyes locked with concerned dark brown for a long while. Then, as he could hold it in any longer, Daniel burst out in pain-filled sobs.

The silence of the rest of the team was broken by Colonel O'Neill's whispered reply of, "Oh, Danny..."

He moved over to Daniel and helped him regain stability on his legs before pulling him into a tight embrace. Daniel continued to weep in pain and sadness as his best friend whispered words of reassurance and comfort to his struggling self.

Finally, Daniel stopped sobbing and was left with only painful sniffles. "Thanks, Jack," he managed to whisper.

"No problem, Daniel. No problem."

Jack looked over to see that Carter and Teal'c were starting to tear up, themselves as they watched the emotional scene in front of them. They saw Daniel's head drop down to the colonel's shoulder as he fell into a deep sleep to escape the pain.

"I think one of us should take watch in shifts tonight. We need to keep an eye on Daniel and try to help him keep his weight off of his arm. It could seriously damage his muscles if he does. His legs have been shot and will probably throb a little, but they've started to heal since yesterday and it' s better than the alternative. I'll take the first watch," said Jack, careful to keep his voice down as of not to wake Daniel from his slumber.

Sam and Teal'c both nodded in approval and went off to get what sleep they could muster. Jack would probably just take the whole night as his shift because there was no way he was going to be able to get to sleep with his friend in such bad condition. They needed to figure out a plan-- and fast.

**NEXT SCENE**

The next morning, Daniel awoke to the sound of the cell door creaking open. For a minute, he moved around, trying to get his brain back up to speed on what had just happened. Why does my arm hurt so much? Oh yeah, a sword was jabbed in it. What about my left side, right side, and legs? Yes, knife, knife, staff weapon. Now I remember. And now that I remember, it hurts even more! Sheesh!

Then, he remembered the door had opened not long ago. He turned around as fast as his body would let him turn, which was not very fast, and stared at the door. It was closed. He turned to face the rest of the room and found that it had been nothing more than Herak bringing the food in to his companions. This made Daniel realize that he was not hungry. At least, not as hungry as he should be for going 2 days without food. He guessed it was just because of all the pain and blood loss he had recently suffered. His body must be concentrating on other things. Sam might be able to explain it to him, but he figured he was probably better off not knowing.

In the middle of the room stood Sam and Teal'c eating their meals. Where was Jack? For a moment, the possibility that Jack had been taken away to be tortured elsewhere crossed his mind and made him frantically panic. But then, he noticed that he was not standing on his own. Jack was behind him, helping him stand to keep weight off his arm, only, he was sleeping. Daniel smiled. Jack had probably stayed up all night like that and gotten so tired, just fell asleep in the same position. What would Daniel do without him?

However, Daniel's awakening had not gone unnoticed by his other fellow comrades.

"Daniel," Carter said in a soft voice.

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said a little firmer, but equally as soft.

Daniel turned around to look at them. He smiled at them. He was feeling better than would be expected of a recently-tortured human being. Probably because he had such good friends that he could always count on, with the occasional exception of Major Carter. But his movement awoke the colonel.

"Hmm, Danny?" he said sleepily.

"I'm here, Jack," Daniel said, weaker than he felt.

"Mm, good,"

"Um, Jack, could you, um, like, let go of me?" Daniel was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with Jack holding him up.

"What? Oh, right. Sure," Jack said as he let go of Daniel. He started to walk away, but was stopped when he bumped into the edge of an energy shield. He was stuck in the shield around Daniel to prevent him from "being fed" because he had stayed with him all night. It must have gone up when they were both asleep, as both of the men were surprised it was around them. Daniel just let out as heavy a sigh as his injured body would allow put all his weight on his feet as of not to hurt his arm any longer. Jack cursed and hit the energy shield with his fist, but immediately pulled it away. "Ow! That hurts!" he said.

Carter and Teal'c noticed and both looked concerned, but neither one said anything because nothing they said could help their two hurting teammates. As Carter gave a sigh, she leaned back on the wall behind her. She was surprised and jumped back when she felt one of the bricks of the cell push in as she leaned on it. Teal'c looked over at her and asked, "What is the matter, Major Carter?"

"I don't know, Teal'c. I just leaned against this wall and one of the bricks kind of moved in a little."

The team exchanged perplexed glances with one another. Then Jack and Daniel said at the same time, "Do it again."

So Carter pushed the brick in. Finally, it got to a point where it would go in no more. She sighed again. It had probably just been a loose brick in the wall. Teal'c and Jack seemed to slump back a little when they noticed Carter could push it no further, but Daniel kept thinking and said, "Try pushing it to either side."

Carter tried pushing left first, but it wouldn't budge. She then tried right, and, sure enough, it moved over to reveal a secret compartment in the wall. The whole team was now watching anxiously as Carter pulled something out of the wall. The team looked at the object. It was somewhat of a thin cylinder with what seemed to be a lid on top. The lid was in the shape of a jackal head, which Daniel realized was the animal form of Anubis. Then he said, "That's a canopic jar."

The rest of the team stared at Daniel, not having any idea what he was talking about. So Daniel explained, "A canopic jar is a vessel believed to be used by the Ancient Egyptians to put the dead pharaoh's organs in. Obviously, they're used for other things..." The others gave confused looks as they were still not following. "You remember when Sarah was taken over? Osiris was in one of the canopic jars. So was Isis, but she was already dead."

The others suddenly remembered, and Carter looked disgusted by what she was holding, so she put it down on the floor. But Daniel protested, "Look, it could be something else! Something the Goa'uld might use to escape from this prison in case they lock themselves in here."

"Or it could be a Goa'uld waiting to take a host, like whoever opens the jar!" said Jack.

Daniel looked exhausted and sighed heavily. They were never going to get out of here. He said softly, "Look... we're not going to be able to escape from here if we aren't willing to take chances. If we don't try something we're all--or at least I am--going to die and be tortured by Anubis forever."

The others looked hesitantly at the jar. Their faces were showing great concern and distress on the decision they would soon have to make.

Daniel continued in his soft voice so that he wouldn't give up all the strength he had left to his lecture, "I can't, and won't, make you open that jar. You guys are the only two in there, and the Goa'uld could take over either one of you. It can't take over me or Jack because we're behind this force field. But if it isn't a Goa'uld, and it's really something that could help us escape from here..." he paused to take a breath. He was getting really tired from lack of proper nourishment. But he continued in a whisper, "...then I say we take the chance."

Carter and Teal'c looked at each other, then they looked at their tired teammate. He probably wouldn't make it through the rest of the day if he didn't get some water at least. As the two were about to reach their decision to open the jar, they heard footsteps approaching. Sam quickly picked up the jar and hid it back in the compartment. She pulled the brick back over and as far forward as she could, then made sure she was standing in front of it to hide it. Just as she finished and turned around, Anubis stomped into the cell.

When Anubis walked in, Daniel looked horrified and turned to Jack, who also looked very afraid. There went their chance of seeing what was in that jar right now. Maybe they could later...if there was a later for them.

"So, Doctor Jackson, have you decided when you're going to tell me how to penetrate your Earth Stargate?" asked Anubis.

"Yes, actually," said Daniel. "I will tell you...NEVER!"

Anubis strolled around the cell calmly. Daniel got more and more nervous with every step the Goa'uld took. What would he do next?

"Well, it seems you have gained some company in your little energy field there, haven't you?" he said eying Jack.

Daniel and Jack glared. Then, Anubis signaled to one of his Jaffa and the energy field was let down. Jack still tried to stay in the same area he had been in previously in order to try and protect Daniel, but Anubis shoved him out of the way. As Jack hit the ground, Carter and Teal'c went over to help him, but he waved them away and stood up to watch Daniel. Anubis noticed how tired Daniel seemed and remembered how long it had been since he had had a drink of water. Anubis smiled, realizing that Daniel's need of food could be his, and his team's, weakness at this point.

"I'll tell you what, Daniel," Anubis said. Daniel shuddered. He hated it when the bad guys used his first name. "I'll give you and your friends as much food and water that they need if you just tell me the first three numbers of your code."

Daniel looked at his friends. The mention of food and water had reminded him how exhausted he was from not having either. His teammates shook their heads no, however. Daniel wondered why. It wasn't as though he was going to give Anubis the whole code, after all. Just a small piece of it. But then he started thinking, that would show he had a weakness, and as Jack told him, "weakness is not a good thing in jail, trust me". Anubis might also have a way of finding out the rest of the code with all of the technology he now obtained. Daniel bowed his head toward the ground in defeat. He couldn't tell Anubis any of the code, no matter what the reward may be. So Daniel said softly, "No."

Then, Anubis got really mad. He had been sure his dastardly plan would have worked. He ordered one of his Jaffa to hand him a staff weapon and he aimed at Daniel's heart. Daniel closed his eyes with not a trace of fear on his face. For he had been expecting Anubis to kill him after he had just foiled his horrific plot to destroy Earth. Anubis fired the weapon and the shot hit Daniel right where Anubis had been aiming. The rest of the team knew that Daniel was dead once again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh, yes…there's more. I'm surprised you're still interested…**

Carter turned away and Teal'c watched fearlessly as their teammate fell. Jack's eyes started watering for the first time in a long while. Anubis was gleaming with horrendous pride as he handed the weapon back to his slave.

"It was actually better that he died this way, you know," Anubis mocked to SG-1. "It would have been quite more devastating for both himself and for you had I allowed him to live and suffer through his weakened state. Starving to death or dying of dehydration are both far worse ways to die than being shot and having it end almost painlessly."

"Or you could have just given him some water and food and let us all be on our merry little ways!" yelled a very irritated Jack.

"Yes. I must admit I could have, but then what would the fun in that be? I promised you I would let you go if you had just told me one simple little thing that I desire. But you could not even live up to that." Anubis said and started out the cell, having his Jaffa bring Daniel's body with them. At the doorway, he stopped and said, "Oh, and don't you worry about your friend, colonel. I promise I will bring him back so that we can all have even more fun together."

As he left, O'Neill attempted to rush to the door and follow him out. He was thwarted, however, when the door quickly shut behind the Goa'uld and his slaves. "Shoot," O'Neill muttered under his breath along with some other words. He lifted his head to meet the gaze of his two remaining teammates. The hurt in their eyes was almost as bad as Jack's. Neither of them had been expecting, nor wanting, Daniel to die again so quickly. Finally, Carter broke the silence, "You know, sir, if Anubis keeps this up, Daniel will get addicted to the sarcophagus again. Except, this time, it will happen sooner due to the fact that Daniel is actually being hurt, or rather, killed. Like what I assume happened with you and Baal..." she cut herself off and bit her tongue. Now was not a good time to bring up more painful memories to the colonel.

"I know, Carter," Jack said calmly. He walked back to the other side of the room where Daniel had been and near where the other two were currently standing. He looked up at the chains that had been binding Daniel's hands. There was blood caked on them all over. They had put those darn things on Daniel's wrists really tightly. O'Neill sulked around awhile in a silence that the others respected. At last, O'Neill said, "Let's open that jar. It was Daniel's idea. We should do it for him."

"But sir, what if it's a Goa'uld?" complained Carter.

"So what if it is? Daniel was right. We will never get out of here if we don't try something," Jack answered.

After some contemplation, both Carter and Teal'c agreed that opening the jar would be the correct course of action to take. Carter found the brick and once again opened the whole in the wall. When she took out the canopic jar, they set it down on the ground, and they stared at it for a little while. Finally, they looked at each other and made the decision.

"All right, we open it in 3...2...1" Jack yelled. They threw open the jackal-shaped lid. All of them turned away and closed their eyes, not sure of what to expect. When none of them heard any squeaking or whatever other horrible noises larvae Goa'uld made, they looked at each other first to make sure none of them had been taken over (the eyes would have glowed), and then they looked down into the jar.

Inside of the jar was nothing but a harmless piece of paper. The three looked at each other quizzically. Was this a trick? Teal'c reached his hand into the jar and pulled out the small piece of paper. It was similar in size to a piece of paper you may find in a "fortune cookie", he thought, remembering his first encounter with Earth Chinese food.

"It appears to be a message, but I cannot make out the symbols on it," he stated.

"Great," said Jack. "It's probably just some dumb fortune. So much for Daniel's idea."

"At least it wasn't a Goa'uld, sir," said Carter.

"Actually, right now Carter, I'm kind of wishing it was a Goa'uld instead of some stupid piece of paper. That way, it could have taken over you and at least have done something useful."

"We do not yet know the significance of this piece of parchment, O'Neill. I do not believe it wise to jump to such conclusions as of this moment."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm going to jump to whatever conclusions I want. I...wait. Do you hear something?"

The three paused and there was utter silence. They soon heard the faint sound of footsteps approaching. Teal'c quickly pocketed the paper while Carter and Jack put the remains of the jar into the compartment in the wall. They shut it just before Anubis walked in with his Jaffa and a very irritated looking Daniel. The Jaffa put Daniel on his wrist chains once again with a bit of a fight from the stubborn archaeologist.

"Doctor Jackson, come now, don't look so glum. You are healthy again, and your friends are all well. Of course if this doesn't make you cheerful, perhaps I can find something else that will," said Anubis.

Daniel's eyes got very narrow as he glared at the Goa'uld. "I think I'm fine with the way things are right now. Can't you tell?" he quipped.

"Make no mistake. I shall return. But for now, I have more important business to attend to than torturing you further, although I am sure that would be my preference over working."

As Anubis left Daniel just rolled his eyes. Anubis had forgotten to lower his shield. Not that it made a difference. He looked over at his friends. They had just been standing in silence. "So, you guys, whatcha doin'?" he asked them.

"Uh, nothing much, Daniel. How 'bout you?"

"Oh, same thing."

"'kay."

There was an awkward silence. Jack broke the silence again and said, "Well, we opened that canopic jar while you were gone."

"Really? And?"

"It was, like, a fortune cookie paper thingy," said Teal'c.

"Don't know what it says, though, because it's in some other language," said Jack.

"Well, then, let me see it."

Teal'c nodded and brought the paper over to Daniel and held it for him because Daniel's arms were chained up. "Um, sorry Teal'c, but, uh, you're holding it upside down."

Teal'c raised and eyebrow at Daniel, but turned the paper right side up. "Then you recognize these symbols, Daniel Jackson?"

"Uh, yeah, I do. They're kind of like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, similar to what we found on Abydos," Daniel said eying the paper.

"Come on, Daniel, read it out loud. The suspense is just killing me," said Jack.

"Okay. I'll try the best I can. Um, loosely, it says uh, well it was written by someone, a prisoner, who was here before. They, much like us, were tortured for quite a long time. Unlike us, however, the Goa'uld had not yet 'installed' the wrist chains or energy shield, therefore he was able to move around freely. He just so happened to come across a brick on the wall that pushed in. To his surprise, when he pushed it, a small opening appeared on the wall. The tiny door led right outside, where he was able to outrun his opponents and reach the chappa'ai. However, he was later recaptured with his friends. He tried desperately to find the same brick, but it was quite difficult because, you must push very hard to get it in and obviously hundreds of bricks make up the outside walls. It took him a long while to find the correct one. When he did, though, he this time, left himself a reminder of where it was. This he also hid in the wall, but he knew where to find it, for he put it 10 bricks down and 18 bricks to the right. He remembered because this was the date and month of his birthday. This coming from the upper left hand corner of the room..."

"Wait, wait , wait, Daniel. Your telling me all of this is written on that piece of paper?"

"Well, I'm not done yet."

"Daniel...explain..."

"Fine. Many of these symbols signify words. I'm also adding a lot of information on my own."

"Ah, okay. Continue. Even though I really have no idea what you're talking about. I'm sure Carter does."

"Anyway, so he knew where to find the instructions. But before he left, he rigged the 'door opener button' to work only for his people, so that the Goa'uld could not escape their own prison as he assumed that button was intended to do..."

"Oh, great," said Jack, "so we can't open it either."

"I didn't say that, Jack..."

"DANIEL! Yes you did! You said 'only work for his people', and I don't know anyone on Earth who has been able to rig a door opener button on a Goa'uld inhabited planet!"

"But, Jack, I didn't get to the part where it describes 'his people', yet. It might not be detailed enough to exclude other humans, or creatures other than the Goa'uld."

"Ah. Okay. Continue..."

"Right. So the description of his people...ah! Here it is. Uh, it says that when you find the correct brick, if you can read this, you will know what to do. All you must say is the password that is required to enter our pyramid on our planet...uh oh."

"Now, there, you see? No way we would know that," said Jack.

"Wait," said Carter, "wasn't there a pyramid on Abydos?"

"Yeah, but we didn't use a password. And like I said, the writing isn't quite like the one we found there."

"Where is the correct brick, Daniel Jackson?"

"Uh, it is 5 down, 5 to the right, 2 down, and 3 to the left from the one containing the canopic jar."

"It would indeed be worth trying to open. Perhaps the Goa'uld have once accidentally locked themselves in this prison and found a way to 'unrig' it."

"Okay," said Jack. He counted out the blocks and pushed as hard as he could. It would not budge. "Nope. Not gonna work."

"Drat," said Daniel.

The colonel looked sympathetically at Daniel. The poor guy had been trying so hard to get them out.

"Daniel, it's okay. It's not your..."

"WAIT!" Daniel cut him off, "I remember reading something on the cave walls when I lived on Abydos..."

"You mean you did archaeology work while you were there?" said Jack.

Daniel ignored him, "A long time ago, before Abydos was under the ruling of Ra, Many different Goa'uld patrolled the galaxy, particularly ancient Egyptian deities. Anubis was among them. Now maybe, Anubis came to Abydos once and managed to capture some of the people who chose not to worship the Goa'uld. There were always a number of people on the planet that chose not to believe. They had their own pyramid, a very small one, disguised as another 'temple' for worshipping the false gods. However, they would trick the others in the city to believing that their temple was for experienced citizens only. If you could read the minds of the ones already inside of the pyramid, then you were allowed in. If not, then you had to settle with the big one with the Stargate in it. To most people this was acceptable."

"But there were always some people on Abydos that wondered what exactly the others did in their pyramid that was so special. Finally, one night, they snuck into the pyramid to find the others burning statues of the Goa'uld that they had created. They quickly ran out to tell the city's leader of their 'wrongdoings'. The leader ordered them all executed."

"Ooh, lovely," muttered Jack.

"But, not all of the non-worshippers were in the pyramid that night, many escaped and ran from the city, fearing they would be found out. They created a smaller pyramid very far from the extents of the city. They had but a simple password to get in..."

"The password from the paper," continued Carter.

"Yes, possibly. The problem is, I don't remember what the password was, or if it was even on the cave writings I read. The password for the...wall seems to fit with the description of the password for the pyramid on Abydos, but I wouldn't know, or at least, remember it."

"Great. So there goes that brilliant plan."

"Jack..."

"Daniel...?"

"I might know it. I just can't seem to remember it right now."

"Uh huh."

"No, seriously! I mean, it's a wonder I can remember anything from those cave writings that I read over 7 years ago, okay!"

"Well, Daniel, how are we going to make you miraculously remember that one little, oh, so important detail, hmm?"

Daniel hesitated and closed his eyes. Boy, was he feeling the pressure.  
Jack noticed and remembered what all Daniel had been through just recently. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I just really want to get out of here. I didn't mean to pressure you."

Daniel sighed and looked up. It was very odd for Jack to be so kind to him. He decided not to think about it too much, though, because his head already hurt from all that thinking about Abydos. Instead, he just smiled and said, "Thanks, Jack."

Jack nodded. "Why don't you get some sleep, Danny-boy? No offense, but you look awful."

Daniel smiled at Jack's remark. "Okay, sir. Whatever you say," he mocked.

Jack smiled. He had missed talking to Daniel since they'd come here. Ever since they had gotten here, it seemed Daniel was either unconscious or talking about some elaborate plan to escape. Not that he blamed him.

"Actually, colonel, I think I'm going to get some shut-eye, too," said Carter, who really had no reason to be tired, but, you know.

"Why don't you, Teal'c and Daniel all get some rest. I'll keep watch just in case."

"I do not need to sleep, O'Neill. I have done so just recently. Why do not you sleep? You have not slept well since Daniel Jackson first became injured. I believe you will need to do so soon, or you may become increasingly exhausted or possibly even ill. I will take watch."

"Thanks, Teal'c," said Jack, as he went to lay on the cold, hard dungeon floor. At least it was better than poor Daniel's position. He immediately closed his eyes and fell into the world of his own dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

**Look! Another chapter! Again! How long can one drabble on about nothing?!?**

Daniel awoke to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. He lifted his head to look around. Apparently, everyone else was wide awake and talking softly to make sure they didn't disturb Daniel.

"Jack..." he said.

"I hear them, Daniel," the CO answered before Daniel could finish his statement.

Daniel suddenly felt nervous. If Anubis was coming to torture him even more...well, Daniel wasn't sure he could handle it again right about now. He looked over at Jack, blue eyes wide with fear. Jack looked back, his brow furrowed in concern.

Suddenly, everyone jumped as the prison doors swung open again. And who should it be? Anubis.

"Hello, Dr. Jackson. Have a nice nap?"

"Why, yes, actually, thanks for your concern. By the way, how long has it been since you slept? You look just awful," quipped Daniel, remembering Jack's earlier remark.

"Indeed. But not as awful as you will look when I'm through with you," he smirked.

Daniel rolled his eyes to meet the concerned faces of his comrades. He gave them a small smile that lasted a few seconds to signal that he was okay...so far.

"Dr. Jackson, have you had experience with one of these devices before?" Anubis questioned. He pulled out a very small, round, gray disc. One look at it and Daniel knew exactly what it was. A memory extractor that was used by both the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. The Tok'ra used it to target certain memories in the brain so that they could gain information. They usually set it on a 'low level' so that the user does not mistake their memories from the present reality. However, the Goa'uld used it as torture. They took a prisoner and set it on a high level to either gain information, or to make the victim experience hurtful memories from their past. Daniel had had some experience with those things before with Hathor and Apophis and Sarah, or rather, Osiris. He was not at all excited about this.

As a matter of fact, Daniel had many bad memories. Ever since he was 8 years old and his parents died, he had been through a lot of hard times. What if Anubis set it for the time he was exposed to that lethal dose of radiation? Oh, this was going to be oh, so lovely, as Jack would say.

"Um, yeah, actually," Daniel finally answered.

"Well, then, I'm sure you enjoyed the experience?"

"Uh, not particularly. I kind of like being stuck in reality most of the time. I'd rather not go back in time and explore my past and all. You know how it is."

"Yes. And that is why I will use it on you."

Daniel gulped. Then, he looked at his team. They all looked worried. They had all experienced the technology at some point, and they didn't like it at all.

Anubis walked up to Daniel and pushed it into his head. Daniel closed his eyes and winced. It always hurt when you put it on, too. Then Anubis pulled a device with which to control the disc. Daniel kept his eyes shut as the Goa'uld put the device up to the disc. Suddenly, Daniel was back on Abydos.

However, it was not a happy time on his planet.

He was once again in the hands of Ammonet and her ribbon device. He could feel the searing pain go through his brain, through every nerve in his body, making it impossible to move. Only, this time, he went without the dreams Sha'uri had given him to tell him of Shifu. He was aware of the pain for the whole, oh, 15 seconds. But, still, a very long 15 seconds. He saw Teal'c come into the room. The Jaffa held his staff weapon up and Daniel knew his intentions before he carried them out. With a single shot Sha'uri was on the ground. Daniel fell hard next to her and lay in deep physical and emotional pain as she used her last breath to tell him she loved him.

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel's knees buckled and gave out, leaving him hanging on his shackles. Tears streamed down his face as he was experiencing the memory. He whispered barely audible words now and then, but Jack only caught one "...Sha'uri...". Immediately, he knew which memory Anubis had chosen first. Sha'uri's death. He knew this was one of Daniel's most painful memories, especially considering that it was one of Daniel's best friends who was the culprit. He glanced over at Teal'c to see if he had heard Daniel's whisper. Obviously, he had. His face was overcome with guilt. And he was the first to speak up.

"Please discontinue the intentional discomfort of Daniel Jackson."

"I don't believe I shall. I find it enjoyable to witness his pain. Let us set the controls to another, more recent memory, shall we?"

And he used the device on Daniel once more.

**NEXT SCENE**

Suddenly, Daniel was laying in the infirmary. He was bandaged up pretty well, but he hurt like...well, you know. He remembered something about a bomb and the need to act quickly. Everyone had been coming in and, basically, saying, "good bye, you're going to die" to him. He had known he was going to die, ever since Janet had told him what happens when you are exposed to this much radiation. He just thought that he would miraculously escape death, once again. So far, his future wasn't looking so good. Even Jack had come in to say good-bye. Not exactly in those words, but Daniel could tell what he meant.

A few minutes later, Daniel could no longer think about anything other than breathing, or he would stop. He knew this because he had tried. But every second it got harder and harder. He didn't know how much longer he could last...

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel was struggling to breathe in the prison cell. He seemed to be concentrating on only that. And so far, he was just barely succeeding in keeping it up.

Jack kept listening to hear if Daniel said anything, but thus far, he had been very quiet other than his labored breathing. Jack couldn't quite place which memory Anubis had put him in this time. Daniel had been in pain and had a hard time breathing in many instances. The room was otherwise quiet.

Finally, Daniel uttered one thing, "...I have to go now...". All of a sudden, Jack shot up. He yelled to Anubis, "Stop it, NOW!"

"Sir, you figured out where Daniel is," Carter stated.

"Yeah, Carter. He's back when he destroyed the bomb on Kelowna. He's dying of radiation," Jack said while glaring at Anubis.

"I do not recall Daniel Jackson saying anything of that sort before his 'death'," Teal'c said.

"He only said it to me. Right before he died and he needed someone to stop Jacob. He told me to...help," Jack said, blinking back tears at the painful memory. Then he turned to Anubis, "Get him out of there!"

Anubis smiled, "Do not worry, O'Neill. The mind device rarely makes the scenario real enough to kill the victim. Although it does happen occasionally," he said.

Jack looked at Daniel. He had ceased breathing. Jack hoped that Daniel's wasn't one of the rare occasions. Each member of SG-1 held their breath.

Suddenly Daniel jerked up and said, "Stop it! Get me out of here! This isn't real..."

"Oh, Dr. Jackson, did you have to go and spoil the fun? Once you remember the scenario isn't real, it is no longer as amusing," Anubis complained. He put the device that he controlled the other with up to the disc on Daniel's head. Daniel's eyes shot open, and he looked around in a panic. He was breathing heavily, probably out of pain and shock.

"Daniel, it's okay. We're here," Jack said calmly to reassure Daniel.

"...Jack..." he whispered.

"It's okay, Daniel. It's over. It wasn't real."

Daniel closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Finally he nodded to Jack.

"I shall return later when you have regained the ability to be tricked into thinking that your past memories are present realities," stated Anubis. And then, he left the cell.

After he exited, Daniel calmed down a bit and regained the ability to speak.

"Password..." he whispered.

Jack rolled his eyes. This was no time for Daniel to be fretting over the darn password. They could figure out another way to escape...he hoped.

"Daniel..." he began.

"No, Jack. Hear me out," Daniel interrupted. "I don't know the password right now, but I think I might have a way to remember it."

Jack gave him a puzzling stare. What was Daniel talking about? How would he "make himself" remember something? Maybe he was just delirious from the memory device. Right at the moment, the only thing that Jack could think of that would make Daniel remember anything, specifically, anyway, would be to use that thing the old sea monster, Nem, or whatever, used on him when the rest of SG-1 had all assumed he was dead. But, right now, he was having difficulty seeing them getting access to that thing while they were in a Goa'uld prison cell.

"And your plan would be what, Daniel?" Jack asked, still unconvinced Daniel was even aware of what he was talking about.

"The memory device, Jack," Daniel said simply.

Jack raised his eyebrows for Daniel to continue. He still wasn't following.

"I think I see where you're going, Daniel. But do you have enough strength to even attempt defying the device and Anubis like that?" Carter said.

"Um, could someone please be generous enough to let...Teal'c in on this little plan?" Jack asked.

To this Teal'c raised an eyebrow and inclined his head in O'Neill's direction. Jack looked back and just shrugged.

"I think that I might be able to use the memory device to take me to my memories of being on Abydos. That way, I could read the inscriptions on the walls of the pyramids and find the correct password," he explained.

"Ah," Jack said. "And how will you do that if Anubis is in control of the thing, hmm?"

"Well, maybe I can convince him to take me to that point in time by telling him not to take me to that time. That way, he will probably suspect something really bad happened to me during that period in time. He will send me there if he thinks it will hurt."

Jack blinked quickly to signal that Daniel was talking too fast, repeating the same words over and over, and wasn't making much sense.

"Look, if I say I was hurt while on Abydos, he would send me there to make me relive it," Daniel explained in much simpler terms.

"Oh," said Jack.

"Of course! I didn't even think of that!" exclaimed Carter.

"Well, what were you thinking, Sam?"

"Oh, I was thinking you were going to have to convince yourself, while in a memory, that it wasn't real. That way, you could direct your thoughts and current reality to a more preferable one in your brain. But it would be pretty hard to get Anubis to think that you didn't really know. That would also use a lot of your strength, though."

Daniel thought about that for awhile. It would be pretty hard to convince Anubis, either way, that the memory he was in was painful. Anubis could switch the "reality" before Daniel was able to decipher the writings and figure out the password. The only way he could think of Anubis allowing him to stay in the scenario was if he got hurt. Maybe, since this was kind of a virtual reality, he could make himself hurt somehow while still allowing himself to be able to translate. Of course, he would be torturing himself, purposefully.

Finally, he came to the conclusion that he would rather torture himself than have Anubis lead him into scenarios he had no control over. It also might buy the freedom of his teammates. This, he decided, was worth any cost.

"I'll have to, basically, torture myself to allow Anubis to keep me in the memory," he said at last.

Jack looked at him sternly, "That is out of the question, Daniel. You can't inflict pain on yourself. I won't let you."

"Jack, it could get us out of here..."

"I don't care Daniel. You heard what Anubis said; it might kill you. I won't let you kill yourself on purpose."

"I won't hurt myself that badly. I mean, I still need strength to be able to read and translate the password in order to tell you guys."

"But, Daniel, if you don't hurt yourself enough, Anubis probably won't be satisfied enough to keep you in there," chimed in Carter.

Daniel thought about it for a while. Finally, he said, "Look, Sam, I told you what I have to do. If I hurt myself too badly, I could die. If I don't hurt myself enough, Anubis won't let me stay. This is my only shot at this. I can't think of anything that will make this easier. If you have something encouraging to say, please do, but otherwise, there is nothing else we can do, alright?"

Carter nodded. Teal'c and Jack exchanged nervous glances between each other out of concern for their friend, but eventually nodded their agreement to Daniel's plan. Right now, he was hurt, cranky, and suffering some minor symptoms of withdrawal from the sarcophagus. The members of his team were in no position to start disagreeing with his plans, although they knew them to be risky, possibly fatal for Daniel.

"Good, so when Anubis returns tomorrow, we follow through with my plan," Daniel continued in a tone not normally used by the archaeologist. He was starting to get restless and high-tempered which were signs of withdrawal and, obviously, natural irritation toward being tortured profusely for the last few days or weeks or however long SG-1 had been locked up in the small cell. Daniel was ready to do just about anything to escape from this metaphorical sweat box.


	6. Chapter 6

**Yet more plotless storyness. Have fun reading, whoever you are! I sure hope you're liking this…**

**NEXT SCENE**

"I still don't like this idea, Daniel," Jack said the next morning, taking his chances at irritating Daniel.

"I don't really enjoy it either, Jack, but what choice do we have?" Daniel responded.

"I guess none, really," Jack said.

"It will be better than being tortured by Anubis, trust me," he said quietly.

"I guess so," Jack answered.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard. Each member of the team started up their common nervous reaction. Jack tapped his fingers on the hard wall, Carter hummed, Teal'c blinked exceedingly, and Daniel, well, most of his nervous reactions were conducted with his hands, which were tied up right now, so he just stood there...with a nervous expression on his face.

Anubis entered. He was carrying the memory device. Daniel let out a small sigh. He had been wondering all night about whether Anubis might have changed his mind and preferred physical torture over mental. Now Daniel was sure his plan would work...if he did it right.

"Are you ready for more scenarios, Dr. Jackson? What memory shall I choose for you?" Anubis asked.

Daniel shifted uneasily. How would he convince Anubis to take him there? He had originally thought of just saying, "Well, just don't take me to Abydos at such-and-such a time." But right now it sounded too cheesy. He looked over at Jack for help.

Luckily, O'Neill had been thinking along the same lines. "Take him to any time when he was with us and happy," he said.

"Interesting, O'Neill. Perhaps I shall take him to a time when he was not with you. You have no idea what went on when he was on Abydos for a year, do you?" Anubis asked.

Jack, being the wonderful actor that he was given the many years he had been in covert ops, looked nervously around the room to avoid the question. Anubis smiled, assuming the answer was no, and looked at Daniel.

Daniel figured now would be an okay time to present Anubis with his request, "Send me to any time on Abydos. I was happy the whole time I was there. Especially two months after my arrival there, when I was happily married," Daniel was _pretty_ sure that was when he had found the cave writings. He just hoped Anubis didn't believe him.

"I doubt that very much, Dr. Jackson," Anubis said. "Let us take you there, just to make sure. Besides, it will be interesting for me to possibly learn more about the planet that I so easily destroyed."

Daniel gulped and looked around frantically to show off his own good acting skills. Anubis put the device on his head and he didn't have to _pretend_ he was hurt anymore.

Anubis set the timing and Daniel was off on his solo mission...

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel found himself in a cave on Abydos. He was bewildered. How did he get here? He tried to concentrate very hard. There were guns left over from when the Air Force soldiers had come. They had left Daniel and the Abydonians with supplies including Earth food, weapons and, at Daniel's request, coffee making supplies.

He reached up to push his hand on his head because of a massive headache that was emerging. But something was wrong. He moved his had through his hair and brought it down, shocked. When had he gotten his hair cut?

Then, it hit him. This isn't real. This is a virtual reality. No, a memory. One of his memories of being on Abydos. Why was he here? He knew the name, it was on the tip of his tongue...Anubis. A Goa'uld. Like Ra. He had friends. Jack, Sam, Teal'c. Those were their names. They were in trouble he had to save them...and himself. He had to find a password, on a cave wall.

But there was something else. Something important that he didn't want to do. Daniel struggled to remember this one important detail he knew he was forgetting. He knew if it took too long, he wouldn't have a chance at this again. But what was it?

**NEXT SCENE**

Jack stared at Daniel nervously. So far, he was doing nothing. No pain, no words, nothing. If he took too much longer, Anubis would stop it and send him to an actual painful memory. Anubis was getting impatient already.

"C'mon, Danny," Jack thought, "Accomplish your mission. But don't hurt yourself too badly, please. Remember what it is."

Then, almost as if Jack's thoughts had gone through into Daniel, Daniel shrunk down to his knees in pain. He yelled, but it was not as bad as his earlier experience with the radiation memory.

Jack half smiled, knowing Daniel had remembered. At the same time, though, he felt selfish, knowing that Daniel was doing all of this to save

SG-1. He was really in no position to be doing the "saving the day" this time. He just hoped Daniel also remembered not to hurt himself too terribly, or they could lose him...

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel screamed. He had remembered seconds earlier that he needed to hurt himself. He couldn't quite remember why, but he decided he would take his chances since this wasn't real anyway. What could happen?

But for some reason or another, stabbing yourself in the side with a knife hurt a lot more than he thought it would in a memory. He yanked it out and placed the blood-covered weapon on a nearby rock. He held his side and breathed heavily. At the same time, though, he began to read the cave walls.

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel was trying to get his chained up hand to reach his side while he was still on his knees. His breathing was heavy, but consistent.

Jack sighed heavily and sat on the floor, knowing that as long as Daniel was hurt, he would remain in the memory. Anubis was smiling evilly, or, he would have...he was standing up menacingly. That makes more sense, Jack supposed. Either way, he was obviously content with Daniel's pain and wasn't about to stop it any time soon.

All SG-1 could do now was watch, wait, and pray Daniel would get through this alive.

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel skimmed through the many hieroglyphs that blanketed the cave wall. He was looking for something specific. A password of some sort. So far, all he had found was mention of a story of a boy who was captured by this Anubis he somehow remembered. But he wasn't sure how this would help. However, afraid that if he didn't read it, he would miss the password, he read on quickly.

Somehow, his concentration had left his pain in the back of his mind. He decided that, for whatever reason, he needed to be in more pain than what he was currently in. He grabbed the knife again and...

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel screamed again, seemingly out of nowhere. Jack sat up. "Daniel, don't hurt yourself too bad. You have to tell us the password, too, remember," he thought.

Anubis seemed pleased though, which, Jack thought, was a good thing, in an evil, sickening sort of way. Teal'c also seemed worried though, which was somehow comforting to Jack. At least, it was better than Carter's "sleeping on the job" routine, again.

Jack just hoped Daniel was almost there...

**NEXT SCENE**

Daniel grabbed his other side and sat down. He set the bloody knife down again. For something not real, it sure felt real. He continued reading. He was getting closer. He was sure of it. It had already mentioned a password in the writings. It was just getting rather hard to breathe now, but he would survive.

Finally, he found it. The password. He smiled at himself. He had accomplished his mission. But now, how would he escape? He could yell, but would anyone hear him? It was worth trying.

"I found it!" he screamed and waited for a response.

**NEXT SCENE**

"I found it," Daniel whispered, still in pain.

Jack heard it. He shot his eyes toward Anubis. If Anubis found out their plan...Jack didn't even want to think about it. Jack thought about it for a minute. Daniel wanted out, now. How was he to escape? They hadn't discussed that!

Jack thought back to when Anubis stopped him the first time. What had Daniel done?

'Oh, Dr. Jackson, did you have to go and spoil the fun? Once you remember the scenario isn't real, it is no longer as amusing.'

Anubis had said that the first time.

How would Jack get Daniel to remember it? 'Oh, Daniel, just say you know it isn't real and get it over with!'

**NEXT SCENE**

He still wasn't out. Maybe no one had heard him. He was about to try to scream again, louder. But then, something told him not to. Deep down, he somehow knew it was a bad idea to talk about the password.

How would he escape, then? Maybe, if he said he knew it wasn't real...

"This isn't real..." he yelled, then suddenly felt very dizzy. His eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground and fainted from blood-loss.

**NEXT SCENE**

"This isn't real..." Daniel said, barely audible. Then, he passed out.

But, this was enough fun for Anubis for the time being. Therefore, he yanked the memory device off of Daniel. Daniel moaned as his blue eyes fluttered open. He looked around, eyes squinted. He turned to Jack.

"Jack? Sam? Teal'c?" he questioned.

"We are all indeed here, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated.

"Oh...good, then," he said.

Jack's eyebrow went up. Daniel was quite "out of it".

"I'll be back," Anubis said, and strode off.

Once he was out of hearing range, Daniel seemed to immediately perk up. He looked at his teammates in excitement.

"I found the password," he said.

"And...what was it?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Aten," Daniel answered.

"Ah...you're sure it's not a-nine?" Jack's sarcastic reply came.

Daniel rolled his eyes, "No, Jack. Aten is an ancient Egyptian god."

"I thought you said these guys didn't believe the Goa'uld were gods." Jack said.

"Please explain, Daniel," Carter said.

"No, not most of them. You see, when the Goa'uld came to Earth to take ancient Egyptians to Abydos, they came at different time periods. There was a time in Egyptian history when the people were monotheistic. They were under the rule of Akhenaten. He and his queen forced the Egyptians to burn all of the statues of any other gods than Aten--and early manifestation of the sun. They converted all of the temples to be for him. However, when he died, very few people remained loyal to his beliefs, and set up the temples to be used for the other gods, again. But the very few who remained loyal were probably brought to Abydos with others. There, they created their own little pyramid in which they could worship Aten. That pyramid is the one in the story. The password to get in was Aten, because no one else on Abydos still worshipped him."

"...so no one else would know the password because they weren't familiar with the word," Carter said and nodded.

"Right," Daniel said. "Now, I think we've spent enough time explaining it. Let's get out of here before..."

The prison doors opened, catching each member of SG-1 by surprise. Anubis practically ran in. He held a gun that had been confiscated from them when they had been captured.

"You have a plan to escape, do you not?" he asked. "Tell it to me, now!"

"NO! No we don't. What are you talking about? There is no way out of here unless we can defeat you. And, although I would love to do just that, I'm afraid I'm a little tied up right now," Daniel said quite convincingly.

"I do not believe you," he said, "I heard you speaking of escape."

Anubis aimed the metal point of the gun directly at Daniel's heart. But Daniel saw what was coming and at the last minute moved to the right. The bullet hit him in the left shoulder. He jolted back in pain and held in a scream between clenched teeth. Blood ran down his chest. He looked up at Anubis and said, "We--do--not--have--an--escape--plan."

Anubis still held the gun at Daniel, but became more relaxed. The human was correct. There was no escape from this prison. He, Anubis, was invincible. He just had a nervous feeling that the humans were more clever than he gave them credit for. Though Dr. Jackson was smart, he was not very strong, Anubis decided. The gunshot wound would probably cause him to lose a lot of blood, and possibly kill him before the night was over.

He lowered the gun and left, confident that SG-1 really didn't have a plot of escape.

Daniel had his eyes squeezed closed and teeth clenched together in pain. At least he was still breathing fairly regularly, Jack thought.

"Daniel, I'm sorry," he said.

Daniel opened his eyes and gave Jack a small smirk, "For what? For not stopping Anubis? You couldn't have stopped him, Jack. It's not your fault." he said and closed his eyes again.

If he hadn't spent so much time explaining the password, they could have been at the Stargate, possibly the SGC, by now. Well, it had been Carter who asked him to explain...

"C'mon, guys. Let's try the password," he said.

The others nodded in agreement. Teal'c counted out the correct number of bricks and found the one that needed to be pushed in. He lifted his head and nodded to Daniel.

"Aten," Daniel said as loudly and clearly as possible while Teal'c pushed in the brick.

The wall began to shake slightly and Teal'c stepped back. About 1/3 of the wall came crashing down before them. Two Jaffa were guarding the outside. They pointed their staff weapons into the cell, but were too shocked and confused to fire. Teal'c and Jack grabbed the end of their weapons and twirled them so that they escaped the guards' hands. Then, together, they shot the Jaffa.

Jack then turned to Daniel and quickly shot the chains that were imprisoning his friend. Daniel's arms fell to his sides, and, then, he fell. Teal'c ran over to help him rise. Together, they all started running in a dead sprint toward the Stargate before anyone inside heard the commotion. Any Jaffa they ran into were immediately shot by either Jack or Teal'c. Along the way, they also stole a couple of zats for Daniel and Sam. Unfortunately, Anubis did hear the wall fall. He ran into the cell and saw SG-1 fleeing. He grabbed a staff weapon and aimed carefully at Daniel, who was not expecting anything. He fired the weapon, and the blast traveled just far enough to collide with Daniel's back.

Daniel stumbled forward, but Jack and Teal'c had seen. They each grabbed one of Daniel's arms before he hurdled to the ground. With his free hand, Jack fired back at Anubis, for Teal'c still had a staff weapon wound on his right arm. The Zat guns wouldn't shoot far enough to hit him, but neither would his staff weapon blasts hit them. They kept on running, Jack now grabbing on to Daniel with both arms to get a firmer hold on him. They didn't think the shot was enough to kill him, but he had been shot with a bullet earlier. They didn't have time to check; they had to get off of this planet. They could deal with whatever catastrophe Daniel's life was in when they got him back to the infirmary. They were getting closer to the Stargate, and it was now in visual range.

"Carter, dial the 'gate!" Jack yelled over the sounds of staff weapons and zats being shot at them.

"What?" she stopped and turned around to yell.

By the time she had stopped, the three men were already caught up to her. "Never mind, Carter, I'll do it!" Jack said, exasperated.

"What? What did I do?" she complained.

As Jack let go of Daniel, Teal'c put him over his shoulders to carry him through the 'gate. He then turned to Carter and gave her his "shut up, now, or... you don't want to know the alternative" look.

She calmed down with one glance at Teal'c. Then, she said, "Colonel, where are you dialing? You can't dial Earth, we don't have our GDO's."

"I'm dialing the Tok'ra! We can use their IDC to get through the iris!"

"Good idea, sir," she yelled as the 'gate's whoosh emitted. Together, the team ran through the 'gate to P3X 576, the Tok'ra planet.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ahh…the last chapter and possibly the one I semi-like…because it's the end. It also has Walter in it, so…that's cool. But it's still plotless!!!**

At the SGC, General Hammond was getting quite worried.

SG-1 was 12 days overdue. Their attempts to send a rescue mission to find them had been thwarted each time due to the enormous quantity of Jaffa at the Stargate. He would have just been sending a team to their deaths, and he wasn't about to do that at any cost.

Suddenly, the red lights started flashing, and he heard Sergeant Harriman's voice over the speaker.

"Unscheduled off-world activation."

The General quickly went down the steps to the observation room.

"What do we have, Sergeant?" he asked.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC, sir," he replied.

Hammond's heart sank. He had been hoping desperately that it would be SG-1.

Walter seemed to have noticed, and he said, "Sorry, sir."

"It's alright, Sergeant. Open the iris."

The iris clanged open, leaving the illusion of water to be seen. The guards in the gate room lowered their weapons once the iris was open.

Then, to everyone at the SGC's surprise, SG-1 came through the 'gate.

Major Carter came first, followed by Colonel O'Neill, then Teal'c came in carrying Daniel.

"We need a medical team, STAT!" Jack yelled.

"Done, Colonel," General Hammond answered, then he ran down the steps to meet a very dirty SG-1.

"Where have you been, Colonel? What happened?"

"It's a long story, sir. In short, we were captured by that darn snake-head, Anubis. He tortured Daniel pretty bad, killed him a few times, but the rest of us are okay...for the most part."

General Hammond gave them a wide-eyed stare. Dr. Jackson had been killed...again!?!

Just as he was about to ask more questions, Dr. Frasier came in with her medical team.

"All right, everyone, stand aside. Teal'c, put Daniel on the bed," she said. Needless to say, everyone did as she asked.

Teal'c marched over to put Daniel on the gurney. As soon as he was there, she checked his vitals.

"His breathing is quite slow and his heartbeat is irregular. Get me and oxygen tank and a defibrillator, just in case," she told her nurses as she wheeled Daniel off to the infirmary once again.

SG-1's gaze followed the doctor and her team nervously. The defibrillator was never a good sign. General Hammond noticed and told them, "Why don't you all go take a shower. We will debrief as soon as Dr. Jackson is better, or, if that is going to take awhile, tomorrow at 0800. You can visit him in the infirmary once your done cleaning up," he said.

"Yes, sir," Jack said. Carter and Teal'c followed him out of the gate room.

General Hammond looked up to see Walter. He looked very concerned and asked, "Sir, is Dr. Jackson alright?"

General Hammond didn't quite know how to reply, so he said, "Sergeant, why don't you go visit him in the infirmary and see for yourself. You can take some time off for now. I'll find someone else to man the 'gate."

Sergeant Harriman looked startled, but said, "Thank you very much, sir." And he then ran out of the observation room to check up on Daniel.

**NEXT SCENE**

Each member of SG-1 had finished their shower and were in the hallway in front of the entrance to the infirmary for their official check up in their pal. They all looked concerned for him, he had just been shot by a bullet _and_ staff weapon. They hadn't even been sure if he was alive after the staff weapon blast. So, into the infirmary they went.

When they looked in, they saw Walter, who immediately stood at attention seeing superior officers enter the room. He was waiting in front of a curtain, which SG-1 assumed must be where Daniel was.

"At ease, Sergeant," Jack commanded.

"Yes, sir," Walter replied.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Walter?" Jack asked.

"Well, I was worried about Dr Jackson, sir. General Hammond told me I could check up on him if I wanted to. Needless to say, I did," he answered and half-smiled as the colonel's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"You and Danny-Boy are good friends, now, are ya?" he asked.

"Um, yes, sir," he said.

Jack nodded his head, eyebrows still raised, as he said, "Good."

Then, Dr. Frasier came out from behind the curtain, fully equipped with clipboard, stethoscope, and other Doctor stuff.

"What's the situation, Doctor?" Jack asked politely.

"Well, sir, let me first say that Daniel is a real trooper. He's lucky to be alive. That bullet nearly hit him in the heart, as did the staff weapon blast, which, I am assuming, came from the back. He lost a lot of blood from both wounds. Right now, we've got him on an IV to assist in retaining normal blood levels. He's also rather malnourished. He must have put up one heck of a fight to stay alive during his torture session with Anubis."

"Yeah, he did. He died a few times actually. They put him in a sarcophagus to revive him."

"Then that would explain the high levels of adrenaline," Dr. Fraiser added, "But it's not as bad as his previous experience, sir. He should be back to normal, in that aspect, in a few days."

"That's good. Can we see him?" Jack asked hopefully.

"Well, he isn't conscious at the moment, sir, but if you would like to just see him to check up on his condition...be my guest," she said with a small smile as she walked away.

SG-1, and Walter, walked back behind the curtain to see Daniel, their _friend_. He was, indeed unconscious, but at least he was alive this time.

"Well, he looks okay to me," Carter said. "If you don't mind, sir, I think I'm going to go take a well-deserved nap."

"Oh, no, Carter. I don't mind at all," Jack said.

She smiled and walked off. Then, General Hammond's voice came on the loud speaker, "Sergeant Harriman, please report to the observation room. We need your assistance."

Walter snapped his fingers in disappointment and gave Teal'c and Jack a small good-bye as he left, being sure to remind Jack to tell Daniel hi and get well soon for him.

Jack nodded as Walter left, then turned to Teal'c, "I had no idea Daniel and Walter were such good friends."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

The two friends pulled up some chairs to sit on while they waited for Daniel to regain consciousness. However, when they sat down, Jack noticed Teal'c looked a little drowsy and said, "Hey, T, why don't you go get some rest. I'll stay with Daniel. Let's just say I take first watch."

Teal'c nodded his thanks and asked that Jack contact him as soon as possible after Daniel awoke. To this Jack agreed and Teal'c was off for some really, _truthfully_, well deserved rest.

So Jack was left alone in the infirmary with his best friend as a patient once more. How many times had Daniel been in here recovering? How many times had Daniel died? These were questions Jack didn't really want to know the answer to, but asked out of curiosity anyway.

Once again, Daniel had gotten hurt one-too-many times, and was hooked up to one-too-many machines to help sustain his life. Jack frowned. He hated seeing Daniel like this. But, over the years, he had kind of gotten used to it. Even so, it was still just as hard every time he got hurt. He was always left thinking, "this could be the last time Daniel gets really hurt before he dies", or "Daniel might want to resign after this one". But, it was like Janet said, "Daniel's a trooper".

He would always bounce back with whatever life handed his way. He was always so optimistic through whatever happened.

"Well, Daniel," Jack said, fully aware that Daniel was unconscious and couldn't hear him. He was actually kind of glad he was. He would never admit any of what he was about to say if Daniel could actually hear him. "I'm glad you're my best friend. I trust you. I'm sorry I'm not as good a friend as you are. You know, standing by and watching you get tortured by Anubis. I'm sorry."

But then, to his surprise, Daniel responded. "It's not your fault, Jack."

Jack sat straight up. Had Daniel just heard of what he had said?

"Um, Daniel, how much of what I said to you did you hear?" he asked, noticing now that Daniel's normally vibrant blue eyes were half-open.

"Oh, I don't know..." he said. "Everything."

Jack's eyes widened. How would he ever be able to live this down without Daniel bringing it up in their "illogical arguments"?

Daniel semi-smiled seeing Jack's face. He must have said some _really_ nice stuff. Too bad he was only kidding about hearing everything. Basically, all he'd been awake for was the "I'm sorry". That would have been fun knowing what he had really said.

But now, Jack was so nervous he was strumming his fingers on Daniel's bed, which Daniel found quite annoying. Therefore, to spare both himself, and Jack, unwanted misery, he said, "I'm just kidding, Jack. I only heard 'I'm sorry'."

Jack looked at Daniel, eyes still wide, but this time filled with relief, rather than panic. "You...you made a joke?"

"Yeah, I think so," Daniel answered.

"Oh, good," Jack said.

After a few seconds of sustained silence, Daniel said, "I'll bet you said some nice things."

"I did not!" Jack argued.

"Did, too," Daniel argued right back.

"Didn't"

"Did"

"Didn't"

"Did"

Just as Jack was about to make his case again, he stopped himself. Daniel really wasn't in any position to be arguing right now. Then, he remembered the messages he was supposed to deliver to Daniel.

"Oh, Daniel, Walter says hi and get well soon."

"Really? How's he, anyway?"

"Oh, just peachy, Daniel. Teal'c also sends his regards. Speaking of which, I promised him I'd notify him when you woke up."

Just as Jack reached for the phone, Daniel stopped him.

"Jack, no. Don't bother him. I'm going to go back to sleep soon, anyway. I just wanted to say hi to you and let you know it wasn't your fault. It was no one's fault. Except Anubis. You're my best friend, too, Jack."

Jack started to nod, but then asked, "Daniel, how did you know I said you were my best friend?"

"I just had a feeling," Daniel said as he smiled and turned over to doze off once again.

Jack gulped. "Well...I...uh...didn't. Yeah, that's it. You're wrong."

But, alas. It was too late. Daniel had already fallen asleep, content in the fact that he had officially irritated Jack.

Jack sighed and got up to leave, but when he turned around, what he saw didn't make him feel much better. Dr. Frasier.

"Oh, shoot," he thought, "Now I'm in for it."

"Well, Colonel, I see you woke my patient with your talkativeness," she said.

It was a well-known fact that you should never make "the doctor" angry. She was, after all, the one in control of your shots, and all of the really cool, but occasionally dangerous, machinery. Jack was afraid he had done just that.

"I...well...uh..." he tried to say.

But, just as she was about to lash out her lecture, a small, quiet voice came from behind. "It's okay, Janet. He didn't wake me. I woke up on my own. It's not his fault,"

Both of the other occupants of the room turned to Daniel, surprised he was still awake. He smiled reassuringly at both of them. Janet's heart fluttered.

"Well, then, I'll be going to check on my other patients. You get some rest, Daniel, doctor's orders. Good night, Colonel," she said as she strode off for a busy night's work.

Jack looked over at Daniel and said, "Thank you,", but Daniel was really asleep this time. Good, thought Jack, you deserve it. Daniel's recovery wouldn't be easy, but at least he was home and safe. Jack decided that, as soon as Daniel was better, the whole team would go fishing, just to have some relaxing time together. He was certain they would all agree this time, for Daniel's sake.

Yes, it was sure wonderful having our Spacemonkey back home safe.

At long last...

THE END


End file.
